Brick vs Stone

Ryan Cox • May 24, 2019

Genesis 9:1-17 records what is commonly referred to as the Rainbow Covenant. The Lord promises to never again flood the entire planet. He also commands at the very beginning, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (v. 1). This command to the families of the ark is the same command given to Adam and Eve when He said to them upon their creation, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28).

The Lord has revealed His purpose and plan for humanity. However, there have always been those who have scorned and rebelled against the Lord. Noah’s great-grandson became the greatest leader of rebellion in his day.

Nimrod is described in Genesis 10:8-11. The Targum (Aramaic version/paraphrase of the Old Testament, c. 1st century B.C.) records this passage as saying, “He was mighty in hunting and in sin before the Lord; for he was a hunter of the sons of men in their languages. And he said to them, ‘Leave the judgements of Shem, and adhere to the judgements of Nimrod.’ On this account it is said, ‘As Nimrod the mighty, mighty in hunting and in sin before the Lord” ( Targum Pseudo-Jonathan , J.W. Etheridge, first published 1862, targum.info).

I imagine him as a very charismatic and persuasive leader, for Genesis 11:1 says, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” Using the “same words” means they were saying the same thing – they were in agreement.

Nimrod led the people to the plains of Shinar where he gave them a new purpose, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly… Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower… let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad” (Gen. 11:3-4).

Nimrod openly manifested the working and spirit of enmity. He was a global insurrectionist, forming a confederacy against the Lord. He developed a false religion in his insatiable pursuit of narcissistic ambitions.

When studying these passages, an interesting dichotomy arises between Nimrod’s means of worship and God’s means. In Nimrod’s self-adulation, they made bricks. Contrast this with proper Old Testament sacrifices unto God.

“23 You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold… 25 If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.” (Exodus 20:23, 25)

In the clash of brick vs stone, profane worship is worship by one’s own means, achievements, and “creations.” Pure worship is of the one, true Creator by His means and His commands.

In Genesis 11, those who rejected the Creator constructed their building, for which they needed mortar to hold it together (v. 3). Those who accept the Creator’s free gift of salvation by His means and His commands have His Spirit wash them clean by the blood of Christ as He comes to inhabit temples not made by hands, but ones made in His image (Acts 17:24; I Cor. 6:11, 19-20; 12:13).

“17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the Church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” (Col. 1:17-18)

Is your life built upon the self-carved blocks of vanity or upon the venerated solid Rock of Ages?

By Bob Dugas May 23, 2025
NS-29 Launch
By Matt Miles May 22, 2025
As many of you may know, I appreciate space. Not space around me, although the older I get the more I appreciate that as well. The things in the heavens fascinate me and have for a large chunk of my life. I love working with our telescopes, allowing people to see for themselves objects that the Lord made on the 4th day of history. When I was younger I followed our Space Shuttle program, and over the years I have had the opportunity to see a couple of those shuttles around the country. Now it is great to see all the renewed interest in exploring the heavenly creation. I know most of it is for evolutionary reasons, yet over and over again something is discovered that points to the trustworthiness of God’s Word. After all, we are to study His creation as Genesis 1:28 states. On a recent trip to El Paso, it occurred to me that Blue Origin’s launch facility is in west Texas somewhere. After some quick searching I realized we were within an hour and half of it, and there was a rescheduled launch window during the time of our meeting. So, with some persuading of my colleagues, we arose early one morning to make the launch. We made it with just minutes to spare. It was spectacular! The whole launch to just beyond the Karman Line (space boundary, 62 miles/100km) and return of the rocket and capsule is about ten minutes total. While Blue Origin is best known for its New Shepherd rocket that carries paying customers to space and back with the biggest windows ever in a capsule, this NS-29 launch was purely experimental with a payload of instruments to measure simulated lunar gravity. Even though it was not a Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Starship or Falcon launch, it was great to hear and feel a launch for the first time, from blast off to the sonic boom return. It has piqued my desire to see a bigger launch now. As I began to reflect on what I experienced, the Lord reminded me of His design. Earth, our home planet, is so well designed for life. There is literally nowhere in all the universe like it. Yet He gave us the ability to discover creation beyond it. The only reason we can launch rockets and do space exploration is because He set it up in an orderly way. Physics works because He established it to work in a predictable fashion. As much as we may never understand everything in the universe from our position here, it works on an ordered reality that is reinforced by God’s Word. This is what drove Sir Isaac Newton in his understanding of physics. He wrote, “The motions which the planets now have could not spring from any natural cause alone but were by an intelligent Agent.” Evolutionists may come up with theories about the origin of things in the heavens, but over and over again they are being shown through experimentation and observation to be wrong. The Lord set the order of everything in the beginning and sustains it by His Word (Hebrews 1:3). So as you look to the heavens tonight, gaze into the depths of space and observe the different facets the Lord placed up there for our eyes (Genesis 1:17). Peer through a telescope at the lesser light of the moon with marvel and anticipation of further human study in the coming years. Check out the amazing observations being made by the James Webb telescope from deep in space. All of these place a perspective of how awesome our Creator is and how much we depend on Him. Our design becomes more and more obvious with every discovery, yet in our universe we appear so minuscule and fragile. Thanks be to God that His infinite focus has, is and always will be here on us! Blessings.
By Ryan Cox May 22, 2025
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